UX design developer, Matt Hitches recently became an inaugural member of ClickThrough’s shiny new web development team. Here, he tells us about how he got into the world of web dev, the American pop-punk legends he’d choose to perform at his dream gig and the role Birmingham City FC played in one of his proudest moments.

What does your role at ClickThrough involve? – If I were to put it simply I design things – primarily websites, landing pages and banners. Then I go about creating them. To do this I normally work with a variety of content management systems (CMS), like WordPress and Joomla.

My focus is also being directed towards creating responsive sites that offer a greater user experience, which is an exciting development.

What’s your background? – I worked in the retail industry for around five years before getting my first position in web development at Blossom Digital.

From here I’ve gradually worked my way up the career ladder, learning the basics as a junior developer, before moving onto more front-end web development work as a creative developer.

With your background why did you decide to go into web development? – I’ve always held an interest in web development. It probably first started during my school IT lessons, where we’d learn about websites, design and the Internet.

Since those days I’ve always messed around with HTML and CSS coding too, so web development was naturally the career path for me.

How have you found ClickThrough so far? – It’s been great. It was a bit of culture shock compared to my previous job at Blossom. Whereas in that office it was just myself and Alan (ClickThrough’s new head of web development), here, at ClickThrough, the team is much bigger and the office is far bigger.

But everyone’s really friendly and I feel I’ve settled in well over the past couple of months, though.

What’s your proudest moment? – I have three.

The first would have to be getting my first web development job. Having previously worked in a completely different industry, getting that initial opportunity was a challenge, but the outcome was incredibly satisfying.

For a year I played in a band on a full-time basis. We travelled round the country in a van, playing loads of gigs. It was a good laugh and a period I’ll always look back on fondly.

As a Birmingham City fan the final one would have to be seeing them lift the League Cup against Arsenal in 2011 at Wembley. The team were real underdogs on the day, so it was a real once in a lifetime experience to see it live.

If you could arrange your own concert, with any artists, who would they be? –Well the headliner would be a pretty easy choice – Blink 182. They’re the band that inspired me to pick up a guitar and start a band – they had a massive influence on me.

To support them it’d have to be Jimmy Eat World. They’re one of the first bands I really took an interest in. And I think they’d be pretty worthy of playing with Blink.

If I could pick one more, and it would be something completely different to what I'd usually listen to, I’d choose Mumford & Sons. I got to see them live in December and they were amazing – banjos have never been so cool!

Who do you admire most and why? – Although I’m not the biggest fan of Facebook, I’d have to go with Mark Zuckerberg. If you ignore the bitter lawsuits and privacy debates surrounding Facebook, what he’s created is absolutely incredible.

Taking it from a site operated from a bedroom to a globally recognised corporation is something you have to admire.

Finally, where do you see yourself in seven years? – I would like to have progressed in the web development world, honing and developing my skills along the way. I’d also like to be in charge of a front-end development or design team, working on the sites of huge international brands.